Getting the Swing of Things
by seasaltmemories
Summary: In which Serena discovers sports
"I want to learn how to play tennis," Serena announced one day. No context, no explanation, just one demand.

"Oh?" Reiji looked up from his paperwork and raised an eyebrow. Had she seen an LDS student with a racket slung across their back? Had she learned of that famous American player that shared her name? He could sit there and theorize all he wanted, but frankly by now he had learned that the only way to get information out of Serena was for her to share it willingly herself.

"I can book an instructor for you by Thursday."

"Thanks," She gave a stiff nod before heading back out to the dueling arena. Leave it to her to take advantage of every aspect of her host's resources. After coming back from Fusion she had been set to find her own place in Maimi. However she was still a minor, so he had offered her to stay in the Leo facilities until she could support herself independently. Instead of being eager to get out on her own though, she seemed to have made herself comfortable here.

But in the long run, it made no difference. Money was no objection for him and her presence was enjoyable to say the least. So he wrote down the request and went back to his usual work.

A week later, she came back all decked out in gear and a harder scowl on her face than usual. "I changed my mind, this is stupid."

He didn't believe her lie for one second. The first month after the war, she had exhausted every type of competitive activity she could, enjoying every last second. Besides it wouldn't do good to have her lose a hobby. Despite the years, scars still remained from her past, and normal schooling hadn't worked out. Her self-studying barely made a dent in her schedule, and without something to preoccupy herself, she was often antsy. Still he needed time to think this over. He canceled her next lesson with the instructor as asked, but after a little research, Reiji managed to find another duelist who knew the sport.

"What?! Why do you need me for that? I get on a tennis court maybe once a month at best," It was difficult to hear Sawatari over the chatter of You Show, but Reiji managed to catch most of it.

"It's one match, and you'll receive new pendulum cards as payment."

Gray eyes lit up. "New pendulums for entertaining your girlfriend! I guess I can't say no to that." He didn't even spare Sawatari the effort of rolling his eyes. As long as this would get Serena back out there, than so be it.

Sure enough at dinner that night, she brought him up.

"I don't know how Shingo learned I played tennis. He just requested a match out of nowhere. You have anything to do with this?"

He had seen her figuring things out fairly quickly, but she certainly didn't waste any time. "Dueling is always more fulfilling when going up against a familiar opponent. Tennis should be no different."

"Might as _well_ humor the boy, I guess," She tried to hide her odd fondness for him, but it slipped through anyway. "You want to watch Reira?"

He nodded eagerly. "Are you going to come Big Brother?"

"I'll be at a meeting, but I wouldn't mind hearing about things afterword." Good with Reira there, she would be more determined to stick with the sport.

However the next afternoon, he left his meeting only to find tennis equipment slung messily across ht hallway and Serena locked up in her room. Thankfully Reira seemed alright and was focused on her quarters with a concerned frown.

"Did Sawatari upset her?"

Reira shook his head. "I think she upset herself." That's all he would comment on the situation, and reasoning with Serena was hard enough as it was when her temper wasn't flaring up, so Reiji contacted Sawatari on the matter.

"Hey I did everything we agreed on! I beat her fair and square, 7-0. I can't help it she sucks." Once off the line, Reiji sighed and covered his face. There were a million more important things than one girl's hurt feelings. His workload never lessen for trivial problems such as these. He should just let this blow over.

But even logic did not stop him from going and knocking on her door.

"Go away," She groaned. "I'm not in the mood for a duel."

"It's not a duel. Open the door."

"I don't need your pity, just leave me alone to mope."

"Not until you open the door," He replied.

"Ugh," Regardless Reiji heard footsteps coming his way. "Look I'm not crying, there will leave me-" She stopped mid-sentence, shocked by his appearance. "I didn't know you had a neck."

"Very witty," He deadpanned. "But I can't play tennis with a scarf."

"Wait you play?" She looked over his outfit again and finally noticed the blinding white.

"Wealthy children tend to be stacked with multiple extracurricular at a young age, even the more obscure ones. Now come on, we have a match to play."

"I'm not playing anymore though," Serena crossed her arms. "I made that very clear."

"It will be worth your time, I promise." That seemed to do the trick, and the duo was out on the court in the heat of the day. It had been years since Reiji touched a racket, so the two agreed to warm up first.

Reiji managed to get the ball over the net on the first hit, only for Serena to hit it over the fence. There were a few explicits before Serena sent an extra ball his way. Unfortunately, it came on his left side. Damn it, how do you do a backhand again? Through divine intervention, it landed right over the net. Still Serena ended up running too fast and the ball bounced right over her head.

More curses from Serena. This wasn't going the way he wanted.

"Let's move onto serves." He couldn't get it over on his first serve, and on the second serve, he hit the ball out of bounds. It wasn't anything special, but at least Serena could get the ball in the right position. It caught him off guard, so Reiji ended up missing the ball completely.

That got a chuckle. "Do you want to switch back to rallying?"

"That would be nice."

It took a while, but eventually they reached a solid back and forth. There were still many mistakes, but both of them were starting to get into the swing of things. Still there was so much running. There was a reason Reiji didn't attempt entertainment dueling when he was younger, he didn't have the stamina for this.

Unfortunately, Serena seemed to take pleasure in that fact. She hit the ball to the right corner only to hit it to the left corner next. He made sure to return the favor, and the two of them were running across the court the entire time. Things got so intense, they both ran up to the net, only for Serena to slam the ball right in his face.

"Shit!" She dropped her racket and ran to check on him. "I didn't mean that, my bad."

"Apology accepted, you caused no harm," His only injury was a pair of crooked glasses and a sore mouth.

"Why don't we take a break? I'm so thirsty."

"Sounds good," He could also get himself straightened out. As they made their way to the building, he didn't miss the way there was a skip in her step now.

"Did I deliver?"

"Yep, it's always fun watching our fearless leader embarrass himself," Her ponytail had partially come undone, and her face was slick with sweats, yet nothing could damper her bright expression.

"Do you get it, though?"

"Get what?"

"You're not a failure for not being perfect."

She didn't reply at first, chewing like mad on her lip. He thought she would simply drop the subject but to his surprise she answered, "It's really hard to remember that though." Reiji wondered when they'd be able to finally learn that lesson, when Leo's ghost would give up on haunting them. Still they were just two lines on the long list of his causalities. No need to wallow in self-pity.

"I guess I'll try though," She leaned into his side, and he wasn't sure what to. Still she seemed content as things were so he tried to just enjoy the moment. Leo's ghost had to pass on eventually.

* * *

 **A.N. Started out as a self-indulgent piece bc I started tennis again, but then it kinda evolved into whatever this is, I think a lot of my prodigyshipping are basically about the two of them learning to act human**


End file.
